***This is going to be a mid-monthly tradition now, I guess. At least until social distancing standards are completely abandoned. Maybe even after that. Some updates will be bigger than others – it all depends on what differences I can find. I've also added HBO Max selections this month.***
Are you self isolating? Are you thinking about broadening your cinematic horizons? Perhaps you’d like to learn about a specific genre? I’m here to help. I'm finishing up the regular Grinding the Stream columns with everything I found that wouldn't fit anywhere else (stay tuned for one last super secret entry, though).
Once again, we're looking at the big three, Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime, as well as smaller boutique paid services Shudder, Criterion Channel, and Fandor, and a collection of free streaming services available via Roku, Amazon Fire, Chromecast, et cetera. I compared a bunch and, for the sake of simplicity, I found the best in terms of content and video quality to be Tubi, Midnight Pulp (a "+" will be included wherever subscription fees apply), VUDU’s free selections, The Roku Channel, Shout Factory TV (though most of their titles can also be watched via Amazon Prime), Crackle, Popcorn Flix, Dark Matter TV (again, a "+" will be included wherever subscription fees apply).
Be warned – all of the free apps have ad breaks (I know, it sucks) and the video quality is inconsistent from app to app. Sometimes it's genuine HD, other times, it's sub-VHS. Apologies if I’ve suggested something with particularly grim A/V quality and be aware that the availability is based on the research I did on May 9, 2020. Given the nature of streaming media, I imagine very few of these titles will be available in perpetuity. I've included links to my own reviews of some of these films.
Alien Rip-Offs
Movies inspired by Ridley Scott's film are simply a personal favorite specific subgenre and most of the "best" ones are, surprisingly, available streaming
Contamination (Luigi Cozzi, 1980) – Amazon Prime, Shudder, and Midnight Pulp
Scared to Death (William Malone, 1980) – Amazon Prime
Inseminoid (Norman J. Warren, 1981) – Midnight Pulp
Galaxy of Terror (Bruce D. Clark, 1981) – HBO Max and Shout Factory TV
Forbidden World (Allan Holzman, 1982) – Amazon Prime and Shout Factory TV
Creature (William Malone, 1985) – Amazon Prime and Fandor
Lily CAT (aka: LILY-C.A.T.; Hisayuki Toriumi, 1987) – Amazon Prime, Roku Channel, and Midnight Pulp (super weird Japanese animated film)
Creepozoids (David DeCoteau, 1987) – Tubi
Shocking Dark (aka: Terminator 2; Bruno Mattei, 1989) – Amazon Prime and Midnight Pulp + (this is actually a dual rip-off of Aliens *and* The Terminator)
Dark Side of the Moon (D.J. Webster, 1990) – Amazon Prime and Midnight Pulp +
Syngenor (George Elanjian Jr., 1990) – Amazon Prime and Midnight Pulp
Dead Space (Fred Gallo, 1991) – Amazon Prime and Shout Factory TV (remake of Forbidden World)
Body Snatchers and Stolen Identities
Invaders from Mars (William Cameron Menzies, 1953) – Amazon Prime
Project Moon Base (Richard Talmadge, 1953) – Amazon Prime
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Don Siegel, 1956) – Popcorn Flix
Goke, Body Snatcher from Hell (Hajime Sato, 1968) – Criterion Channel
The Stepford Wives (Bryan Forbes, 1975) – Amazon Prime and Tubi
Shivers (aka: They Came From Within, 1975) – Tubi and Popcorn Flix
Dead and Buried (Gary Sherman, 1981) – Amazon Prime, Shudder, VUDU Free, and Tubi
The Stuff (Larry Cohen, 1985) – Amazon Prime
Lifeforce (Tobe Hooper, 1985) – HBO Max
Invaders from Mars (Tobe Hooper, 1986) – Tubi
The Borrower (John McNaughton, 1989) – VUDU Free and Popcorn Flix
Seedpeople (Peter Manoogian, 1992) – Tubi
Body Snatchers (Abel Ferrara, 1993) – VUDU Free
Star Trek: First Contact (Jonathan Frakes, 1996) – Popcorn Flix
Before We Vanish (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2017) – HULU
Annihilation (Alex Garland, 2018) – HULU and Amazon Prime
Us (Jordon Peele, 2019) – HBO Max
Assimilate (John Murlowski, 2019) – Netflix
Post-Apocalyptic Trash & Treasures
An awful lot of these disappeared in May. Either rights happened to run out or companies thought it was in bad taste, given the pandemic.
A Boy and his Dog (L.Q. Jones, 1975) – Amazon Prime, Criterion Channel, VUDU Free, Shout Factory TV, and Popcorn Flix
Black Moon (Louis Malle, 1975) – Criterion Channel
Death Race 2000 (Paul Bartel, 1975) – Criterion Channel, Fandor, and Popcorn Flix
Deathsport (Allan Arkush, Roger Corman, and Nicholas Niciphor, 1978) – Amazon Prime and Shout Factory TV
The Aftermath (Steve Barkett, 1982) – Midnight Pulp
Warlords of the 21st Century (aka: Battletruck; Harley Cokeliss, 1982) – Amazon Prime and Shout Factory TV
1990: The Bronx Warriors (Italian: 1990: I guerrieri del Bronx; Enzo G. Castellari, 1982) – VUDU Free
Escape from the Bronx (Italian: Fuga dal Bronx; Enzo G. Castellari, 1983) – VUDU Free
Endgame (Italian: Endgame - Bronx lotta finale; Joe D’Amato, 1983) – Amazon Prime
The Exterminators of the Year 3000 (Italian: Gli sterminatori dell'anno 3000; Giuliano Carnimeo, 1983) – Amazon Prime and Shout Factory TV
Prisoners of the Lost Universe (Terry Marcel, 1983) – Amazon Prime and Midnight Pulp
Warriors of the Year 2072 (Italian: I guerrieri dell'anno 2072; Lucio Fulci, 1984) – Amazon Prime
Wheels of Fire (Cirio H. Santiago, 1985) – Amazon Prime
Steel Dawn (Lance Hool, 1987) – VUDU Free, Tubi, and, Popcorn Flix
Mutant Hunt (Tim Kincaid, 1987) – Tubi
The Sisterhood (Cirio H. Santiago, 1988) – Amazon Prime and Shout Factory TV
Bronx Executioner (Vanio Amici, 1989) – Amazon Prime
Dune Warriors (Cirio H. Santiago, 1991) – Amazon Prime and Shout Factory TV
Raiders of the Sun (Cirio H. Santiago, 1992) – Shout Factory TV
Tank Girl (Rachel Talalay, 1995) – Amazon Prime and HULU
Other B-Sci-Fi and Fantasy
StarCrash (Luigi Cozzi, 1978) – Amazon Prime and Shout Factory TV
Message from Space (Kinji Fukasaku, 1978) – Amazon Prime
Eyes Behind the Stars (Italian: Occhi dalle stelle; Mario Gariazzo, 1978) – Amazon Prime and Shout Factory TV
Battle Beyond the Stars (Jimmy T. Murakami, 1980) – Amazon Prime, Shout Factory TV, VUDU Free, and Roku Channel
Hawk the Slayer (Terry Marcel, 1980) – Shout Factory TV
Space Raiders (Howard R. Cohen, 1983) – Amazon Prime and Shout Factory TV
Deathstalker (James Sbardellati, 1983) – Amazon Prime and Shout Factory TV
Wizards of the Lost Kingdom (Héctor Olivera, 1985) – Shout Factory TV
Sorceress (Jack Hill, 1986) – Amazon Prime and Shout Factory TV (a personal favorite)
Deathstalker II (Jim Wynorski, 1987) – Amazon Prime and Shout Factory TV
Nightfall (Paul Mayersberg, 1988) – Amazon Prime, Shout Factory TV, and Tubi
Doctor Mordrid (Charles and Albert Band, 1992) – Midnight Pulp and Tubi (originally designed as a Dr. Strange movie, before the Band's lost the rights)
Revisionist Westerns
I’m going to assume folks have already seen the Quinten Tarantino, P.T. Anders, and Coen Bros westerns.
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (John Huston, 1948) – HBO Max
The Furies (Anthony Mann, 1950) – HULU
Johnny Guitar (Nicholas Ray, 1954) – HULU and Amazon Prime
A Man Alone (Ray Milland, 1955) – HULU
The Deadly Companions (Sam Peckinpah, 1961) – Amazon Prime and Tubi
One-Eyed Jacks (Marlon Brando, 1961) – Amazon Prime
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (John Ford, 1962) – Amazon Prime
The Shooting (Monte Hellman, 1966) – Amazon Prime, HBO Max, The Roku Channel, and Tubi
Ride the Whirlwind (Monte Hellman, 1966) – Criterion Channel and Tubi
The Wild Bunch (Sam Peckinpah, 1969) – HBO Max
Little Big Man (Arthur Penn,1970) – Amazon Prime
Hannie Caulder (Burt Kennedy, 1971) – HULU and Amazon Prime
McCabe & Mrs. Miller (Robert Altman, 1971) – HBO Max
The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (John Huston, 1972) – Amazon Prime
Chato's Land (Michael Winner, 1972) – Amazon Prime
China 9, Liberty 37 (Monte Hellman, 1978) – Amazon Prime (almost a spaghetti western!)
Heaven's Gate (Michael Cimino, 1980) – Amazon Prime
Dead Man (Jim Jarmusch, 1995) – Criterion Channel and HBO Max
Lone Star (John Sayles, 1996) – VUDU Free
The Proposition (John Hillcoat, 2005) – Amazon Prime, VUDU Free, Tubi, Crackle, and Popcorn Flix
Meek’s Cutoff (Kelly Reichardt, 2010) – HULU, Amazon Prime, Tubi, Dark Matter TV, Crackle, and Popcorn Flix
Django Unchained (Quentin Tarantino, 2012) – Netflix
The Nightingale (Jennifer Kent, 2018) – Amazon Prime and HULU
Documentaries About Cult Movies
Burden of Dreams (Les Blank, 1982) – Criterion Collection (the making of Werner Herzog’s Fitzcarraldo)
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: A Family Portrait (Brad Shellady, 1988) – Amazon Prime
My Best Fiend (Werner Herzog, 1999) – Fandor and Shout Factory TV (Herzog explores his relationship with Klaus Kinski)
The Wild World of Ted V. Mikels (Kevin Sean Michaels, 2008) – Amazon Prime, Fandor, and Midnight Pulp
Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno (Serge Bromberg and Ruxandra Medrea, 2009) – Amazon Prime (the story behind Clouzot’s unfinished film)
I Knew It Was You: Rediscovering John Cazale (Richard Shepard, 2009) – Fandor
Best Worst Movie (Michael Stephenson, 2009) – Amazon Prime and Tubi (retrospective doc about the legacy of Troll II)
Nightmares in Red, White and Blue (Andrew Monument, 2009) – Amazon Prime (general look at ‘60s/’70s American horror movies)
Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy (Andrew Kasch and Daniel Farrands, 2010) – Shudder
Herschell Gordon Lewis: The Godfather of Gore (Frank Henenlotter and Jimmy Maslon, 2010) – Criterion Collection
Ray Harryhausen: Special Effects Titan (Gilles Penso, 2011) – Amazon Prime
Birth of the Living Dead (Rob Kuhns, 2013) – Amazon Prime (the making of Night of the Living Dead)
Milius (Joey Figueroa and Zak Knutson, 2013) – Amazon Prime and Tubi
The Search for Weng Weng (Andrew Leavold, 2013) – Midnight Pulp
Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th (Daniel Farrands, 2013) – Shudder
That Guy Dick Miller (Elijah Drenner, 2014) – Amazon Prime and Popcorn Flix
Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr. Moreau (David Gregory, 2014) – Amazon Prime and Popcorn Flix
Turtle Power: The Definitive History of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Randall Lobb, 2014) – Popcorn Flix
Why Horror? (Nicolas Kleiman and Rob Lindsay, 2014) – Shudder (horror fandom and psychology)
Monster Madness (three parts: The Golden Age of the Horror Film, The Gothic Revival of Horror, and Mutants, Space Invaders & Drive-Ins; Jeff Herberger, 2015) – Amazon Prime and Midnight Pulp (these are mediocre, but enjoyable)
Leviathan: The Story of Hellraiser and Hellbound: Hellraiser II (Kevin McDonagh, 2015) – Shudder (in two parts)
Smoke and Mirrors: The Story of Tom Savini (Jason Baker, 2015) – Shudder
De Palma (Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow, 2015) – Netflix
Doomed! The Untold Story of Roger Corman’s The Fantastic Four (Marty Langford, 2015) – Amazon Prime and VUDU Free
At the Drive-In (Alexander Monelli, 2017) – Amazon Prime, VUDU Free,and Midnight Pulp (about drive-in theaters, not the band from El Paso)
To Hell and Back: The Kane Hodder Story (Derek Dennis Herbert, 2017) – Amazon Prime, Shudder, and Crackle
78/52: Hitchcock’s Shower Scene (Alexandre O. Philippe, 2017) – HULU
Unearthed & Untold: The Path to Pet Sematary (John Campopiano and Justin White, 2017) – The Roku Channel and Popcorn Flix
Becoming Bond (Josh Greenbaum, 2017) – HULU
King Cohen: The Wild World of Filmmaker Larry Cohen (Steve Mitchell, 2017) – Shudder
They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead (Morgan Neville, 2018) – Netflix (the making of Orson Welles’ The Other Side of the Wind)
Flesh and Blood: The Hammer Heritage of Horror (Ted Newsom, 1994) – Amazon Prime
Shirkers (Sandi Tan, 2018) – Netflix (story of an unfinished, teen-made Singaporean indie movie)
All the Colors of Giallo (documentary about gialli; Federico Caddeo, 2019) – Amazon Prime and Midnight Pulp +
The Dawn of the Kaiju Eiga (Jonathan Bellés, 2019) – Midnight Pulp (mostly about Godzilla movies)
Memory: The Origins of Alien (Alexandre O. Philippe, 2019) – Crackle
Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror (Xavier Burgin, 2019) – Shudder
Making Apes: The Artists Who Changed Film (William Conlin, 2019) – Amazon Prime and Tubi (documentary about Planet of the Apes make-up)
Cursed Films ( Jay Cheel, 2019) – Shudder (five part series)
Scream, Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street (Roman Chimienti and Tyler Jensen, 2019) – Shudder
Not Sure How to Categorize These Ones!
Eating Raoul (Paul Bartel, 1982) – Criterion Channel and HBO Max (Bartel's brilliant class and cannibalism comedy)
Peanut Butter Solution (Michael Rubbo, 1985) – Amazon Prime (utterly bizarre Canadian-made kiddie adventure/comedy/coming-of-age pseudo-horror movie)
The Stunt Man (Richard Rush, 1980) – Shout Factory TV and Popcorn Flix (a unique genre mash-up)